Telecommunications carriers assign telephone numbers to subscribers. Some subscribers are willing to pay a premium for “gold” telephone numbers, i.e., telephone numbers that are easy to remember. Carriers identify “gold” telephone numbers based on numeric patterns. For example, one carrier might identify the telephone number “555-5555” as a “gold” telephone number because each digit in the telephone number is the same.
By focusing only on numeric patterns, however, carriers limit the number of “gold” telephone numbers that may be sold to subscribers. If a carrier were able to identify additional “gold” telephone numbers, the carrier could sell more telephone numbers at a premium, resulting in increased revenue for the carrier. Accordingly, a new way of identifying additional “gold” telephone numbers is needed.